HP DV2 Initial Impressions (Pics 56K warning)

You need to remove your keyboard and the screws under there to separate the bottom. I tore mine apart the night I got it (yeah yeah, I'm a tinkerer at heart) and it took me quite awhile to figure out how they put the thing together.

Tried to get at the CPU, but it looks like I would have to rip apart a few things to get to it...so I left it. I'm really hoping I can replace my single core Neo with the X2 one if I can.

 

Any tips on getting it off? This thing is driving me crazy trying to get it apart.

 

I would be very surprised if you could replace the Neo with the X2 without, at least, some serious soldering skills....

 

wow, this sucks.. i bought 2 versions, the integrated ratdeon x1250 and the 3410 radeon.. the integrated one doesn't come with hdmi (i planned on keeping that one) and the one with the 3410 can't even run on my monitor at 1920 x 1080 resolution (it's not using the full screen)

 

Are you using the monitor as your primary display with the laptop one turned off? If you copy or have your desktop extended you'll be stuck with the resolution of your laptop.

Also, when you say it's not using the full screen do you mean that if you try to send your mouse pointer to the edge it won't go to it? I know on mine while it looks like it doesn't use the full screen, I still have all the space available on my external monitor... but then I'm only using a 1440x900 monitor..

 

Question for those of you who have a DV2. Did you return it under warranty? If so, how long did it take to get your unit back from HP if that is where you sent it. Did they fix or replace it?

 

yeah i'm using my monitor as a primary display.. the hp screen is turned off.

and yeah, that's what i mean.. on each side (left, right, up, down) there's about an inch of completely black screen that cannot be used. so my monitor is 24", but it feels like it's actually much smaller.

i issued a return today with HP.. just have to print out the fedex info and ship it back. so many reasons why i don't like this model from hp, i wish i would have just ordered the dv4t.

 

Hello to all DV2 users..I am interested into buying one of these beautiful pieces,but i am detered but the poor battery life as i read at reviews..
May i ask you,what is the battery life that you get with typical xvid movie playback?(with the 6 cells battery)
Also,i have noticed that most of you have the model with the better graphic card,while i am interested into the X1250 ati card..Apart from far worse results in terms of gaming comparing to the better card,at least will i gain any battery life?Is the X1250 less power consuming than the other one?

Thank you very much.

 

Hmmm, in my experience so far, I can watch through about 10 episodes of a TV show (Family Guy <3) with WiFi and full brightness and last about ~2hours 20min.

And to the person inquiring about the HDMI port and not scaling properly... I'll test it tonight myself. I'll try on my 24" monitor and my 1080p 46" TV also.

 

This notebook looks beautiful. I am currently thinking of getting one.

 

I received service under warranty for my dv2-1044ca. Due to the fact that the display bezel lacks rubber pads on the corners, slight pressure on the lid is enough to cause the display bezel to come in contact with the top cover (wrist rest area). Carrying this computer in a laptop backpack with books in another compartment daily eventually caused scratches and a some pitting to appear on the bezel.

I sent an e-mail to HP's tech support. Within the same day, I got a response that the scratching is due to a hardware malfunction and that I would receive a free repair. They sent me a free shipping box. I sent it away and it was returned to me two days later, with a new display bezel. However, the display bezel is the same design as the one I had, so the lack of rubber pads on the corners will eventually cause scratching. I am keeping the clear film on it until Zagg has a sale on their dv2 InvisibleShields.

 

yes please let me know.

 

See the HP service manual and save yourself a lot of trouble. It's right on their site, just look up the model.

 

Thank you for the reponse.It's not the best,but it's not the worst.I guess with Wifi off and not full brightness should get around 3hours.

I am about to order it,so if somebody knows.IN THEORY(because as i understand,nobody here has the X1250 version of it),the DV2 with the intergrated X1250 graphic card,should have AT LEAST the same battery life with the one having HD 3410?Right?

EDIT:Anyway,i ordered it.May the God be with me

 

Thanks for the response. I will try to email tech support and see what they say. I know I am not the only one who has had this problem fresh out of the box.

 

Update: Just concluded chat session with HP support. They are sending a box as you said. They are saying 7-8 business days. Fortunately this is not my only laptop so I can live with that.

 

What problem did you have with your dv2?

 

Case is warped or something. Front left side does not sit flush on the table. Just one of those nagging things that does not affect it's function but I always knew it was there.

 

Has anyone bought this to solve battery life problems its a 9-cell 7800mAh 84WH from the picture of the battery it would seem there is a very slight thin part sticking out

would be keen to see any real life results, im waiting on my DV2 i think delivery has 2 weeks left so ill buy this battery when i get it.

link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/7800mah-9Cell-H...in_0?hash=item5ad334a276&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

 

so no one's had any problems with the dv2z not scaling to 1080p? i'm not getting the whole screen.. tried changing all the settings, and it still doesn't work. i tried it on 2 separate monitors (asus 24" and sony 46" tv) and it still won't work.

it's most likely something up with the computer, but maybe it's the hdmi cable (i tbhink that's unlikely though).

 

is there a way to get bluetooth to work without having to install HP wireless assistant? I using windows 7 now and it isn't being detected without the wireless assistant being installed..

 

Ah, I'd forgotten all about using the HP site since google search didn't show anything. Managed to get my laptop mostly apart... but sadly a couple of the screws on the motherboard where stripped so I couldn't get them off. Oh well, got to the part I wanted to look at though.


Also, I just realized a question I'd asked a good while back was never answered, so has anyone tried overclocking their neo? Just curious to see if it's possible.

 

Hi Krazzy,
I am researching the subject of overclocking the Neo. I have traded e-mails with Abo, the author of the overclock software SetFSB. He is willing to work with me but he wants to know what is the PLL chip in the motherboard. Did you get to look at the PLL chip?

 

If it was a number on the mobo or chip itself then I probably didn't see it because I couldn't get the mobo out. There was another person who took theirs apart, they might know.

 

Since the DV2 has a slot for a WWAN card,does anyone know if you could stick a mPCI-E SSD in that slot?

 

Something I'm curious about that I forgot about until just recently. When I looked inside my DV2 I noticed that the slot where the fan is could take one as big as 50mm. That's got me curious to wondering if there would be anyway to actually get a small 50mm fan to stick in there in place of the current one. I realize a larger airhole would be needed since the current one is rather small, but if you could get a bigger fan it'd probably help out a lot with the cooling.

 

I posted pages back abou SetFSB. I've already worked with the author, with the model number of the PLL. He said that it doesn't support software changes to the FSB. We also were unable to find a datasheet for the chip in these notebooks.

Chip is Realtek RTM880N-796.

 

Installing Windows 7 and updating BIOS (disable 'Fan Always On') is an instant remedy for the overheating problems. I did both and my DV2-1030US now runs smooth, cool and quiet. I get four hours of 'normal' use (web surfing, some YouTubes, emails, etc.) from the 6-cell battery after undervolting the CPU - not too shabby at all.

It's a great machine if you can get it one a good price; got mine a few months ago for $479 (US) after rebates.

 

Does anyone have a problem with the battery dropping from 100% straight to 93% within the first 10 to 15 minutes? I have seen this happened on mine a few times.

 

Thanks. I will not waste my time with abo then.

 

Just got rid of my DV2, the lack of ability to do any multitasking, and frequent freezing was enough. Just got an ASUS UL30A-A1, so far it's kick .

 

well it only has a 1.6 GHz A64.

I put XP on mine though cuz both Vista and 7 are definitely sluggish on DV2 because of the gimpy CPU. I don't have much in the way of expectations from this thing though. It's a lot faster than my ASUS EeePC 900. It's almost as portable and more usable for sure. That's what I was after along with the GPU.

I haven't had any freezing problems.

 

i ordered one from HP all specs maxed out caused me 815$ if i remembered it right. all in all i like the laptop very much.. (bought 2 by the way one for me and my girlfriend.. we bought one black one white hehe)

PROS:
Fast for the size
Very Good Screen
Keyboard has a nice feel
Elegant looking
Light weight
Good enough for gaming in its screen size (wont notice jaggies due to small screen)
Superb Graphics performance (BLU-RAY, HD STREAMING, FULL SIZE HIGH RES FLASH) just multimedia masterpiece for me. anyone questioning flash capabilities must know that this one play bluray better than any laptop that cost 750$ or less.. flash is easy

Cons:
Hot if BIOS not updated (undervolting is no longer a must, the bios update did a great job lowering voltages)
Bad touch Pad (not really bad but you have to get used to its sensitivity and response rate)

Other thoughts::

After i updated the Bios to tha latest one (forgot the version it was after F0c)
I even loved this netbook more. when i did a clean install of vista i downloaded the latest catalyst on ati website and it hobbled on HD youtube videos.. there is a bug in the new drivers so if you get the same problem download the one on HP instead, ofcourse theyre better cause they are certified...

Update: i recently bought a PATRIOT TORQUE SSD (not m28) and this thing boots like a demon on drugs.. 20sec full boot.. meaning 20sec till usable everything on startup loaded every driver.. almost all programs boot in an instant, photoshop boots like 6-8 times faster now.. this is just crazy.. SSDs are costly though.. if you are guying a 64gig make sure you buy one with a read speed of over 200mbps.. i bought a 128gb though.

currently waiting for the windows 7 that i am getting free courtesy of the windows 7 upgrade program on this laptop. as ive been reading it can boot like 10 secs in win 7..

since the bios upgrade and the SSD upgrade.. browsing and some youtube videos.. i get 3.5 hrs battery life. just pure browsing no hd streaming videos 4 hours.. im not sure if the SSD helped my battery life compare it with the disk drive tom if i got time and give you guys an update =D

 

get rid of the crapware (bloatware) do clean install.. vista flies on this machine.. il post videos later so the other guys can decide if it is worth it

 

Did you ever find out if a mPCI-E SSD would work? I've been looking into those myself and am interested to know if it worked, and if so what kind you got.

 

I just bought the HP dv2 (single core) in Japan for $300 and obviously had the Japanese Vista installed. I don't have a USB CD or DVD drive but I managed to use a USB stick before to load Windows 7 on a MSI Wind netbook. The problem with the dv2 is that it doesn't seem to have any options on the bios besides the time, date (only things I can change) and CPU, RAM, etc. info but that's it!! No way to make it boot from the USB port to use my stick...don't know the bios version (forgot to check and I'm at work now) but do you think I'll be able to get more options in the bios menu if I upgrade to the latest version? If not, is there any hacked bios that will give me this option? Or should I press another F# key to load boot sequence? Thanks for your time!!

 

Problem solved! Updated the bios to the last version (F27 or something like that) and inserted the USB stick. Pressed F9 when booting up and now I could select the HDD or USB. So there, no need to use an external CD or DVD drive ^_^

 

Hi

I have a DV2(z) 1125ea with the Athlon Neo X2 L335. I upgraded the BIOS to the latest version F.27 straight away, as this was said to improve battery life and power savings.

The issue I am having (and I don't know if it is to do with the latest BIOS or not) is that the fan is on a very low setting on battery and I can hardly hear it, but whenever I pug the mains power in, regardless of the CPU temp (could be about 30-35c on both cores) the fan kicks in full speed and stays on until I unplug the power cable.

This is quite annoying as the computer isn't even hot, and when on battery at exactly the same temps the fan is hardly on.

Anyone know why this might be?

Many thanks!

 

^ urgh.. same problem here.. the fan is LOUD!! I updated to F.27 A. Any other ways to reduce this jet engine fan?

 

I'm glad vanylapep bumped this thread! I missed the earlier comments about updating the BIOS - so I updated my dv2 to F27 today - and I would say its an order of magnitude improvement. OK - it still runs sluggish - but no more excess heat and the battery life is up to around 2.5 hours. I have just two gigs of RAM - but I'm using a 4-Gb Class 6 SD card with ReadyBoost in WIN 7. The fan ran just a few times today in over two hours of surfing and installing updates, etc. Again, no speed demon but it runs well enough that I'm going to keep it!!

 

HI everyone. I'm in Canada and as far as I can tell Canadians never had access to any of the neo x2 / 3410 SKU's. This post is Jan 1 2010 and I'm interested in finding a dual core version of this with the 3410 graphics. Anyone know of an online reseller? The only neo x2 with 3410 graphics I've seen in the last month was on e-bay. I scan ebay.com 3-4 times per day but no luck with the neo x2 processor and 3410 graphics. Tons of mv-40/3410 setups or neo x2/x1250 setups but none of the top end models to be had at all. Please post a reply or send a PM if you know where I can source one.

Thank you and Happy New Year!

 

Just wondering.. did he have a look at this program by MSI:

"MSI Dual Core Center 2.0.6.1"
"· support MS-7388 v1.1 (F71889, RTM880N-793)..etc"

793..796..seems awefully close....might not be too different?

http://www.softpedia.com/progChangelog/MSI-Dual-Core-Center-Changelog-114348.html

I also found this while I was googling: ..appearntly a design doco for the Fujitsu Amilo notebook:
http://dc176.4shared.com/download/165353490/ddc3d3d6/Fujitsu_Siemen_Amilo_Xa_3530.pdf

http://ts.fujitsu.com/home/products/notebooks/amilo_sa_3650.html

aSPIRE aSPIRE 5535/5235 seems to use this chip also:
http://tim.id.au/laptops/acer/aspire 5535 5235.pdf

In the Amilo design drawing on the "clock gen" page 71.09480.003 - seem to suggest that it can be replaced by: 2'nd SLG8SP628(71.08628.003)
3'st RTM880 (71.00880.003) <-

also in the aSPIRE 5535/5235 service manual - page 13 "clk gen": it states:
ICS9LPRS480BKLFT 71.09480.A03
RTM880N-796-VB-GRT 71.00880.A03 <---THAt is the DV2 clock gen chip!


Does this help? ..( Amazing what you can find when you google.)

 

Also Had the same problem, until I chance upon it in google. this is what you do:

Goto you vista power plan -> select HIGH PERFORMANCE MODE" -> Wooosh! fan suddenly become quieter. Don't ask me why other modes make it loud . It just does

 

Has anyone tried putting a mPCI-E SSD in the empty slot? I'd really like to find out if it'll work.

 

You would need the m-pcie card to contain it's own pata or sata controller. All of the ones made for netbooks do not have this feature there is a funky pinout on the mini-pcie slot connected to a pata or sata controller. The only manufacturer I've seen was Samsung, they announced one last year but I haven't heard any updates at all.

Second problem is BIOS locks on the slots. Not only are there only a couple whitelisted cards that will work in that slot but the Phoenix BIOS is notoriously difficult to modify. There are guys around that can do it but it's a crapshoot.

 

Does anyone have a list of approved cards?

 

this may be a weird question but has anyone figured out an easy way to remove the circular pattern on the left corner touchpad?

i find it very ugly and makes it look like a teenager computer